Dubai cops close Sridevi case, body finally reaches Mumbai

More than two and a half days after superstar Sridevi’s body was found in a bathtub in her hotel room in Dubai, the UAE authorities closed the case and released the body to be taken to India.

The body, which was then embalmed, took off in a private chartered flight belonging to ADAG from Dubai airport at 7pm (IST) and landed in Mumbai at 9.30pm. A posse of policemen escorted the ambulance carrying Sridevi’s mortal remains to the Kapoors’ Lokhandwala residence. Police had to resort to a lathicharge to control the 2,000-odd-strong crowd gathered there.

The actor’s body will be kept at Celebration Club in Andheri from 9.30am to 12.30pm on Wednesday so that fans and celebrities can pay their respects, said a statement by the Kapoor family. Celebration Club is a stone’s throw from Green Acres Complex, where the actor lived.

From Celebration Club, a funeral procession will leave for the Vile Parle Seva Samaj crematorium at 2pm and the last rites are expected to be performed around 3.30pm. On Monday, after the postmortem revealed the cause of death to be “accidental drowning” and the case was transferred to Dubai public prosecution, there was speculation that authorities may not release the body on Tuesday either.